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Jacob Appelbaum

Jacob Appelbaum (born April 1, 1983) is an American independent journalist, computer security researcher, artist, hacker and teacher. Appelbaum, who earned his PhD from the Eindhoven University of Technology, first became notable for his work as a core member of the Tor Project, a free software network designed to provide online anonymity. But it was Appelbaum's work with WikiLeaks and his journalism at ''Der Spiegel'' based on the NSA documents leaked by Edward Snowden that made him famous, status accentuated by his standing-in for Julian Assange at computer security and hacker forums when Assange could no longer travel to the United States. Under the pseudonym "ioerror", Appelbaum was an active member of the Cult of the Dead Cow hacker collective from 2008 to 2016. He was the co-founder of the San Francisco hackerspace Noisebridge with Mitch Altman. He worked for Kink.com and Greenpeace and volunteered for the Ruckus Society and the Rainforest Action Network. He was on the Technical Advisory Board of the Freedom of the Press Foundation.

In 2013, Appelbaum was one of a small group of journalists who had direct access to the NSA documents leaked by Edward Snowden, he was then part of publication of the stories in ''Der Spiegel'' on U.S. spying on German Chancellor Angela Merkel, on United Nations diplomats, and other stories. In 2014, Appelbaum was awarded the Henri Nannen Prize, the equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize in Germany, for his work on the U.S-Merkel-spying story. Later that year, he accepted awards on-behalf of Snowden, who was marooned in Russia as an asylee.

In 2016 he was the object of allegations of sexual misconduct, and alleged assault. No formal charges were filed. Within a short-period around June 2016, Appelbaum withdrew or was asked to step down from many of the organizations for which he was well-known as a key member, as well as his employer Tor. Tor performed an external investigation, the results of which supported the accusers. Appelbaum denied the allegations. German press outlet ''Die Zeit'' defended Appelbaum (who is a resident of Germany), citing the lack of formal charges by accusers, also inconsistencies and contradictions in the allegations. Appelbaum was defended by a group of female lawyers, activists and journalists with whom he had worked closely. These women launched an online appeal for support to contest the allegations, voicing concerns about due process, trial by social media, and questioning the claims.

In 2024, a documentary about Appelbaum, "''No One Wants to Talk about Jacob Appelbaum''" directed and produced by Jamie Kastner, which addressed the allegations and accusers, and Appelbaum's position on events, became available on Apple TV. Appelbaum's life in Berlin was shown, including challenges faced due to pressure from the United States Department of Justice to testify against the imprisoned Julian Assange, interviews with WikiLeaks lawyer Margaret Ratner Kunstler also Appelbaum's personal experiences with U.S. surveillance. Provided by Wikipedia